Sunday, August 24, 2008

Perfectly Pleasing Peru....Part 2

Hello Everyone,

I promised more about Peru and here we go! I wish I could show you all my pictures, but I really must be selective. All the pictures are great and it was a wonderful trip.

First, I will start where we left off with those lovely children. Here is mom and child and just baby. Completely and utterly adorable!! What is most amazing is that the mom's carry the child on their backs while working, spinning yarn, weaving, tending to other children or animals. Well, you get the idea.

These pictures are of the dyed alpaca wools and a dying demonstration. They use all natural elements, mostly from plants to dye the wool.

The source....there were many to be found.

A weaving demonstration.

Finished weavings....

A fluffy baby llama eating alfalfa.Now onto Moray. Here you can see more terraces built by the Incas for farming. Aren't they cool? They farmed lots of potatoes. According to our guide Peru has about 2600 varieties!!

Now onto a pleasant surprise....The salt mines. Yes, salt! This is not snow in Peru. The salt mines were also terraced on the side of the mountain. Salt water ran into these beds and then evaporated so that the salt could be harvested. Cool!!

Now, last but not least, the main attraction and reason for the vacation....Machu Picchu! These photos say it all!!

For you nature lovers, we also saw some beautiful orchids and Peru's national bird. By the way, apparently avid bird watchers will pay hundreds of dollars to go on a watch for the Andean Cock of the Rock (national bird) and we saw it twice!!!! Here it is and also a shot of a beautiful orchid.

Well folks, that is my toned down version of my pictures from Peru. I hope you enjoyed. When you return for my next post it will be back to quilt related items!! See you then!